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(No Mde'l.)

R- C. DOUGLASS, I

RAILROAD GATE,

.Patented June 20, 1893.

i UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT C. DOUGLASS, OF CIfIICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ALFRED B.

MCCHESNEY, OF SAME PLACE.

RAILROAD-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,878, dated June 20, 1893.

.Application tiled May 21, 1891. Serial No. 393,522. (No model.)

Y. a specification.

As is well known railway gates are used at crossings to prevent teams and persons crossing the railroad track. They are provided with arms intended to stretch all or part way across the roadway, called roadway arms, and also with arms extending across the sidewalk, called sidewalk arms. These arms are generally so connected that the raising or lowering of the roadway arm raises or lowers the sidewalk arm; and the object of my invention is to simplify the connection between these arms; and the invention consists in the features and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l isa vertical elevation of one of the gate posts with its side removed; and Fig. 2 a plan view with the top of the post removed.

The post A is made in the ordinary manner, and of suitable dimensions to receive the operating parts. Within this post is journaled a shaft B, to which issecured the roadway arm C, this arm being bifurcated as shown and straddling the post in the well known manner.

Rigidly attached to the shaft 'B is a sector D, to which are fastened ropes or chains E, which pass over suitable pulleys and beneath the roadway, being fastened at their other ends to a similar sector in another post; it being understood that there are generally four of these posts at every crossing. A cylinder F is then constructed and supported within the post in any desired manner. Within this cylinder is placed a piston, the rod of which is connected to the sector in any desired manner. These parts are all more or less well known; and since their construction will be obvious from an inspection of the drawings, they require and will receive no further de-l scription. The sidewalk arm G is also bifurcated and is mounted upon a shaft g, which,- in the present construction, is shown as bent to adord room for the passage of the sector,

it is desired to raise them, power is applied by means of the cylinder, piston and rod, to rockthe sector toward the left (Fig. l) raising the arm C. As the sector rocks toward the left, the pin to which the link is attached movesl downward, thereby exerting a pull upon the crank, and rocking it toward the right to revolve the shaft g and raise the sidewalk arm. When the sector moves back again, this sidewalk arm is lowered by the same connections. By means of this construction I provide a simple and efficient means for causing the movement of the roadway arm to move the sidewalk arm, thereby dispensing with the gear wheels and more or less complicated and expensive devices heretofore in use for this purpose.

As has already been. stated, the link connecting the crank with the sector is preferably made in two parts, screw-threaded and united bya nut or union J, whereby the length of this link may be increased or diminished. The object of this method of construction is to provide means for properly adjusting the gates.

As formerly constructed, it was frequently found when a gate was put up and the roadway arm raised to a vertical position, that owing to imperfect castings or other causes, the parts would be so adjusted that the sidewalk arm would only be raised one half or three-fourths of the way toward a vertical position. This difficulty can be overcome by the use of this adjustable connection; since if the sidewalk arm does not rise sufficiently high, the link can be shortened, which will pull the crank and the arm toward the right (Fig. l), while on the other hand if the arm G rises too far, the length of the link may be increased, allowing the arm to move to its proper position. In this way the parts can be simply and securely adjusted for proper operation without the necessity of taking any of them back to the shop to be altered;A all possible inaccuracies being provided for lby the adjustable connection.

While I have shown more or less specic forms, I do not intend to limitmyself thereto, since I contemplate the substitution of the equivalents; and any other suitable form of link connection may be used in place of the two part link and union joint; the gistof my invention consisting in providing a link connection, preferably adjustable, between the shaft ofthe sidewalk arm and the operating sector.

I claim- 1. In a railway, gate, the combination ofV an operating sector, a sidewalk arm mounted on a suitable shaft, a crank on such shaft, and

an adjustable link connecting` the crank and sector, whereby. the movement of the sector raises and lowers the sidewalk arm, substantially as described.

2. In a railway gate, the combination of a gate post, a shaft journaled therein, a sector .fixed to such shaft, means for revolving the sector and shaft, a sidewalk arm mounted on a shaft journaled in such post, a crank on such shaft, and an adjustable link connecting the crank and sector, substantially as described.

3. In a railway gate, the combination of an operating sector, a sidewalk arm supported by `a suitably journaled shaft, such shaft having gate post, an operating sector mounted on a shaft journaled in said post, a sidewalk arm mounted on a shaft journaled in such post, such shaft being bent to pass around the edge of the sector and carrying acrank, and an ad-4 justable link connecting the sector and the crank, substantially as described.

' ROBERT C. DOUGLASS. Witnesses:

GEORGE S. PAYsoN, SAMUEL E. HIBBEN.

gate, substantially as de- 

